Re: "Medical Records Confidentiality: Issues Affecting th

[Dick Mills <dmills@albany.net>]

>Doctors may still have the Hippocratic Oath, but it still has to be waived 
>for any action to proceed in court. Even if it is not the patient's fault.
As 
>long as that is the case, there is no medical privacy. There is no 
>confidentiality. And, there is no such thing as a "cornerstone of modern 
>medicine." That cornerstone was made out of clay. 
>
>Alex 

Alex has a point.  

The ONLY solution to all these legal nightmares would be the use of 
technology that would allow patients to deal with the health care system
anonymously.   Digital signatures and encrytpion can allow all
the safeguards and checks and balances and accountability everyone
needs to be built into the system, but still not require the patients
(or the doctors for that matter) to reveal their names.  

Look up the posts entitled "The Privacy Enhanced Electronic Prescription"
in the archives of this listserve for more information.


-- 
Dick Mills            http://www.albany.net/~dmills